The Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) was on Sunday attacked by suspected Boko Haram members in Limankara, Gur and Sabongari Hausawa villages of Gwoza Local Government area of Borno State.

Several houses and vehicles were also destroyed in the villages.

According to eyewitnesses at Gur and Limankara, the insurgents who were well armed as usual invaded the villages in several Toyota Hillux vans and motorcycles with Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs.

They reportedly drove round the villages before unleashing terror on them.

Also, the insurgents, according to sources, forcefully took away six vehicles belonging to the three communities and 1,950 bags of beans and other grains from the villagers, which they loaded into their awaiting pick-up vans.

“The attack on our village came 24 hours before the insurgents struck, as we got the information that Limankara village will be the next target for this weekend.

“With this information, we had to evacuate our children and wives to safer places so that they do not kill or kidnap our daughters, as they did last Monday at Warabe and Wala villages of the Gwoza Local Government,” a villager said.

He added: “Around the wee hours of the night, I heard people chanting ‘Allah hu akbar’ meaning Allah is great in Arabic towards Jaje village route, before the houses of our District Head, Zephaniah Tada, and two retired police officers were in flames along with the church, about 300 metres behind Tada’s residence.”

It was learnt that some of the soldiers at the military post who were alerted on the approaching of insurgents into the village to attack them, later came and there were exchanges of fire for several hours before the insurgents fled.

It was also gathered that at Gur village in the Biu council area of the state, a separate group of Boko Haram gunmen shot dead a villager, and torched several houses and shops, before fleeing towards Damaturu road by midnight.

Confirming the separate incidents in Maiduguri on Sunday, Borno State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gideon Jibrin, said no arrests had been made but that investigation has begun.